Along with trying to claim that Sanders invited himself to the Vatican — debunked by Reuters — now Clinton supporters are claiming that the invitation didn’t even come from the Vatican.

Initial reports said the invitation came from the Pope, but to be accurate it came from the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS). But PASS is an office of the Vatican, so it’s not inaccurate to say that the invitation came from the Vatican. Except to Clinton supporters, who have decided PASS is not part of the Vatican but is just a bunch of guys who meet in their parents’ garage. Yes; you can see this from this group shot from the PASS home page.

Here’s the background: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences was established in 1994 by Pope John Paul II. This is one of several academies of the Vatican, with offices in the Casina Pio IV in Vatican City, which also houses the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Officials of PASS are appointed by the Pope.

Yet somehow, in the fevered imagination of Clinton supporters, PASS has no connection to the Vatican. Uh-huh.

The chancellor of the Academy, Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, has spent the past several hours debunking false reports (apparently generated by Bloomberg News) that Sanders had invited himself. No, says the Monsignor; I invited him. It was my idea, he said. He also said it was absolutely not true that Sanders broke any kind of protocol, as Bloomberg News reported.

A Bloomberg report quoted Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Sanders had broken with protocol by failing to contact her office first.

“This is not true and she knows it. I invited him with her consensus,” said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer.

Clinton people rightly appraise the threat of having the political message of addressing wealth inequality combine with the religious component of that same message. Regardless of the outcome of the primary, the handwriting is on the wall – the system which fosters the creation of obscene wealth and power has to change and incremental tweaks are not enough.

Well, I heard that Hillary has been invited to speak at the Niccolò Machiavelli Society. I guess she’s going to give them some pointers on the fine art of political skullduggery . Claire Underwood move over.

OT Again – (will Maha ban me?) Cruz keeps fleecing Trump in delegate contests because Cruz gets politics. Politics – as the primary process illustrates – is an intricate game with convoluted rules from state to state. Trump completely neglected the inside game and Cruz has closed to within 200 delegates and he may be positioned to do better in future delegate machinations than Trump – even if Trump wins at the ballot box.

All of which points out a glaring weakness in Trump – he doesn’t ‘get’ the inside game. He is totally lacking subtlety. There is no such thing as nuance. This lack of sophistication isn’t pretended – it’s real. Cruz is a revolting wiesel – which is an insult to wiesels – but his ability to pick Trump’s pocket proves how unprepared Trump is for the world stage.

Here’s a good read… It’s like deja vu all over again. Two points that stood out to me were in the closing where the author says that tweaks aren’t going to cut it for the road ahead. And the spiritual aspect that FDR points out as lacking, or is rather devoid of in a system of unbridled capitalism. I see the seeds of destruction being sown for what I think we all hold dear as our vision for what is America.

Swami: I wonder about the vision for what is America. I hear the words “the American dream” or “Make America great again” or “Take our country back”. I’m sure these words mean something to some people but to me they are empty words. Whatever the vision was for the people who founded this country, things change, people change and we do not exactly have a pure history. History tells me that all great nations fall eventually and I can accept that this is the destiny for us. It doesn’t mean that we will cease to exist but that we cannot be #l forever. We are lacking spirituality. Religion cannot fulfill that need. It goes deeper.

grannyeagle…I guess I’m a little bit into the clouds with my vision of what America is or should be. Since childhood I’ve been taught about America in the abstract where the ideals and values to be venerated are now openly and eagerly being tossed to the curb. I realize it’s a vision through rose colored glasses that allow me to filter out reality, but I still see America through eyes of what we can be. It’s purely a spiritual trip.

And my Doctor said: “Read the Communist Manifesto and call me in the morning.”

Yup me too! That line is why I like the song so much, arguably the best line in all of country music! Lots of wingers like to claim Merle as their own given the Okee song and fighting side of me, but as with all things the conservatives love it aint that simple. He made lots of comments to the contrary as well. I couldn’t give a f#ck about his politics I like his song writing and he was also quite the guitar-smith!